Should your silence speak as loud
by Project 0506
Summary: It's the strangest thing.  The moment anyone outside of their informal triad is present, Watanuki becomes a completely different person.


If I was Clamp... this world would be a much less imaginative place. Therefore howl and bay in endless joy that Project 0506 has nothing to do with Clamp. Less joyful is the fact that I'm poor and if you were crazy enough to sue me I'd have to borrow from my roommate to pay you, and an angry roommate is not a happy sight. Trust me. For both our sakes.

xxxx

When he said 'Carry that', he placed a finger in the ear closer to the boy. For a single panicked moment he thought he had gone deaf. Watanuki should be doing his uncannily accurate impersonation of an angry cat right about now. A glance at Kunogi Himawari's face told him that he was not in fact deaf. Watanuki had not made a single shriek.

"Watanuki-kun?" Himawari asked worriedly, reaching to feel his forehead in case he had gotten sick again. When Watanuki stepped back, avoiding her hand, Doumeki felt that something was horribly wrong.

"Watanuki." The boy's blue eyes refused to meet his.

"Yeah, yeah." With absolutely no argument, Watanuki picked up the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Shizuka-kun!" One of the girls yelled, scandalized. "Don't make him do _everything_ for you!"

"It's alright." Watanuki gave a small, demure, _un-Watanuki-like_ smile. "It's my fault he hurt his arm anyway."

The others seemed not to notice as they pulled Himawari and Doumeki along. Watanuki trailed behind, smiling and answering when spoken to and refusing to look directly at anyone. The group, two girls from Himawari's piano class and three boys from Doumeki's archery club, settled in one of Himawari's many 'favorite' sweet shops.

"It's been a while since we hung out, right Himawari-chan?" Himawari giggled and apologized repeatedly.

"There's been a lot of stuff hapenning Yuki-kun." Yuki slung his arm around her shoulders.

"No time for me anymore? I'm wounded!" She laughed again, but it died away in her throat when she caught sight of her usually excitable friend. By now he would normally be talking loudly to himself, discussing the imminent demise of anyone (usually Doumeki) who got anywhere near Himawari. Today he seemed especially fascinated with the floor.

"Watanuki-kun? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" He tried that half-smile again and it was just as bad as before. He jumped to his feet, seeing his escape as the waitress signaled their table. "I'll get the snacks." And he darted off.

"You two are so nice!" Doumeki, attention momentarily diverted from trying to figure out what the _bloody hell_ was wrong with that boy, turned to look at the second music-class girl.

"Nice?"

"Yeah." Several of the others nodded at her whispered statement. "I don't know how you can always deal with him. He's so _cold_!"

"Really distant, you know?" Yuki added.

"Distant?" Himawari's mouth would have hit the table if it fell open any further. "_Watanuki-kun_!?!?"

"Yeah. Back in grade school he would have these fits and people used to tease him and stuff. Ever since then he doesn't talk to people. I mean, he _talks_ just not... normal, you know?" The boy shrugged. "It's like he's always trying to get away from you or something."

"..." Doumeki blinked. "Watanuki." Just to clarify he pointed to the front of the shop where the boy was picking up trays of cake. "That Watanuki?"

"Here you go." Watanuki put the trays on the table. "Uh..." he shuffled his feet. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait! Don't you want anything?"

"Ehehe... No thanks. Maybe some other time." And Watanuki backed away from the table and headed to the door in what could only be described as a frightened dash.

xxxxxx

Doumeki Shizuka does not expect anyone to knock on his door at 12:03 am. He feels, should this situation arise, he is quite justified when he yanks open the door and glares crossly at whoever is on the other side. Watanuki Kimihiro, however, is immune to Doumeki's bad mood.

"Here!" He tossed the bag so Doumeki had to scramble to keep it from slamming into his face. "Watanuki-sama has deigned to bring your worthless bag to your house so you will not get detention in the morning! Rejoice! Sing his praises and lament that you are not worthy of such honor!"

"Idiot." Doumeki inserted his customary finger in his ear while Watanuki yelled.

"Who are you calling idiot you emotionless rock-on-legs! After I went through the trouble of bringing--"

"You're the one who ran off with it."

"YOU UNGRATEFUL--"

"Oi."

"My name is not OI!"

"Make onigiri for lunch tomorrow. And make sure there are more sour plum ones than fish."

"WHAT AM I? YOUR MAID?!?!?!"

Doumeki escorted him to the door, firmly escorted him _through_ it and shut it firmly on Watanuki's crabbing face.

xxxxxx

"YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS!" Watanuki yelled, swinging the lunch box around. "I made this for HIMAWARI-CHAN and IF there are any scraps left over then I'm sure she'll be kind enough to toss them to – WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Doumeki pawed through the pilfered lunch box.

"Where's the sour plum?"

"RIGHT ON TOP! ARE YOU BLIND?"

"Too much salt," Doumeki managed around a mouthful of rice ball.

"YOU..."

The sudden silence is even more painful than the shorter boy's constant noise.

"Hey, Shizuka-kun!" The smiling face of one of the archery club members suddenly appears in front of the boys. "Some of us are getting together after practice. Wanna come? Oh," He noticed Watanuki. "Watanuki-san's invited too, if he wants."

Doumeki glanced over at the person who would never admit they were friends. "Sorry."

"Huh?"

Watanuki's hands stopped twisting at the hem of his uniform shirt.

"Sorry," Doumeki repeated. "I can't."

"Well, some other time then." He waved and left.

"Hmph." Watanuki snorted. "You should have gone. That would leave just me and Himawari-chan to walk home alone! Himawari-chan's soooo cute!" Watanuki's eyes filled with hearts. "BUT YOU!" He screeched. "WHY MUST YOU RUIN MY WALK HOME WITH HIMAWARI-CHAN!?!?"

"I have other things to do."

"LIKE WHAT!"

As Himawari approached her friends she could have sworn that Doumeki was smirking. She came close enough to hear him say 'babysitting' before Watanuki realized she was there and went into his usual praise of everything about her.

"Doumeki-kun babysits?" she asked, taking one of the onigiri Watanuki had rescued from the archer.

Doumeki cocked a thumb in Watanuki's direction. Watanuki exploded.

Himawari giggled as she watched them squabble. This was him. This was the real Watanuki, not the boy who followed them to the sweet shop the day before. She saw her chance when he stopped for a breath and interrupted before he could begin a new tirade.

"Watanuki-kun and Doumeki-kun are such great friends!"

As Watanuki did his impression of an angry cat, Himawari and Doumeki both settled back, satisfied. Watanuki was going to be fine.


End file.
